This is a repost of my May the Fourth article, reposted in honour of The Last Jedi.

In honour of May the Fourth, I decided to rank the Star Wars movies in order of my favourites. This wasn’t an easy task given how much I love 5 out of the 8 films ( I do not like the prequels at all) since they all hold a special place for me. I have been a fan of Star Wars since I was 3 years old when my Uncle decided to sneakily show me Episode 4 when he was babysitting me. Ever since then I was hooked. So here is how I rank the movies from least favourite to favourite.

Attack of the Clones

Image via Lucasfilm

Not much needs to be said about this movie it is clearly the worst of the series. When recently re-watching it I had to skip through all the Anakin and Padme scenes given how poorly they are written an acted eg “I don’t like sand’. The Obi Wan and Jango Fett fight was really cool and it was interesting to see the massive battle at then end, even if it was completely CGI with a faceless army. Bad dialogue, corny acting and some changes to cannon really make this the worst Star Wars movie.

The Phantom Menace

Image via Lucasfilm

If you remove Jar Jar Binks, half the politics and trade law whilst removing the racist stereotypes you have a decent movie. Unfortunately you can’t take those out so we are left with The Phantom Menace. There are some redeeming moments in this movie with the Pod Racing being incredibly shot and the lightsaber battles being unlike anything we had seen before. The Duel of Fates score is perhaps one of the best things about Episode 1. Ultimately though people are able to find more flaws than positives when it comes to this prequel.

Revenge of the Sith

Image via Lucasfilm

As it says in the Honest Trailer this is the best prequel because something actually happens. I think it only slightly edges out The Phantom Menace, mostly due to there being more action instead of politics. We get to see the moment Anakin became Darth Vader, which in my opinion is a bit of let down, given what his motivation was and what happened that requires him to wear the suit. The lightsaber battles were really well choreographed and the clone wars scenes are rather enjoyable. Despite these sequences being fun the rest of the movie falls flat with the final minutes just making sure everyone is where they need to be for A New Hope. One thing I will add is there is a line in this movie that I think could have defined the franchise but was completely butchered by the rest of the corny dialogue. “From my point of view the Jedi are evil.” These words by Anakin could have had such meaning but were just wasted.

This is where it gets hard, as this is when the movies get good

Return of the Jedi

Image via Lucasfilm

I know there a lot of hate for Return of the Jedi lately with it being popular to bash it but as a kid this was my favourite of the movies. I loved the opening with Jabba’s palace including Luke showing up with an awesome Green Lightsaber, the second battle against the Death Star and lightsaber duel between (Spoiler Alert) Father and Son were equally awesome. I have re-watched this movie as an adult and I still love it. Yes there are flaws but there are flaws with many great movies. It was also a satisfying pay off to the Trilogy that people loved.

Rogue One

Image via Lucasfilm

What Gareth Edwards did was fantastic. This was a Great War movie that expanded on a time period we already knew something about and didn’t change the way we look at the Original Trilogy. In fact I believe the ending of this film enhances the events of A New Hope when you see juts how desperate the rebellion had become. The beautiful thing about this movie was the way it felt like a different style of film, similar to how Marvel incorporates different genres in their comic book films. I was blown away by Rogue One and thought the finale was phenomenal with the battle on Scarif, the space battle and the hall way sequence. This will definitely draw in people to the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars

Image via Lucasfilm

Also known as Episode IV A New Hope. It was the movie that started it all. 40 years the world was introduced to the galaxy far far away. A movie where we were introduced to the idea of the Force, to an awesome space opera and to one of the greatest movie villains of all time and greatest female cinematic heroes. This movie is a brilliant story that was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The universe George Lucas was able to create was unlike anything that had come before and has not even been rivalled. Do yourself a favour and watch this movie back to back with Rogue One, it enhances the story.

The Force Awakens

Image via Lucasfilm

As a child of the 90s The Prequels were meant to be my Star Wars movies, which makes me so glad we got The Force Awakens. JJ Abrams had an almost impossible task of trying to bring back OT fans, Prequel Fans, New fans and non Star Wars fans and we can say he did that. I acknowledge that there is a similarity between The Force Awakens and A New Hope but I find that it does not bother me at all, in fact I did not even notice the first time as I was so engrossed in the movie. I love the introduction of great new characters played by strong actors and the way it incorporated the characters from the Original Trilogy. I still get tingles watching Han Solo say “Chewie, we’re home”. Gets me right in the feels.

The Empire Strikes Back

Image via Lucasfilm

It is not often a sequel is better than the original, especially when the original was nominated for Best Picture.As a child I enjoyed the opening of this movie with the battle on Hoth and loved the lightsaber battle on Bespin but it wasn’t until I became an adult (well in age but not maturity) that I could truly appreciate how great this movie is. Empire has complex themes woven into a great story with strong characters to create the best Star Wars movie. It is in Empire that we get to delve deeper into the force and the Jedi with the introduction of Yoda. We also learn the deep secret of who Luke Skywalker’s Father is (Spoiler Alert) its Darth Vader!

Image via Lucasfilm

There you have it, my list of favourite Star Wars movies. I wonder where The Last Jedi will end up, if the rumours are to be believe it may be the best one yet. As a Star Wars fan I struggle with this pretty hard as I love these movies. I could put any of the top 5 on and have a great time. Anyway thanks for reading. What order would you have them in?

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